Donna Summer released four concept albums in a row in the 70s, no one was doing that back then!

Once Upon A Time is the best.

I realize this is such an eldergay thread, but if the shoe fits..

I agree R1, it was ahead of its time and very "techno" millenuals would dance to it these days if played in a club

I'm a big fan. These days I can't get enough of "Unconditional Love"

“Once Upon a Time” was pretty trippy. These albums were like little journeys into some landscape she was painting. Somehow it all worked.

[quote]Donna Summer released four concept albums in a row in the 70s, no one was doing that back then!

She *does* have something in common with Pink Floyd!

Smoking a bowl and listening to OUAT is a near perfect night.

Giorgio Moroder and 0ete Bellotte...thank you

I should have clarified that in my post title. Yes prog rock acts did concept albums, what I should have said was no disco artist was doing them.

A lot of younger gays haven' even heard the best Donna Summer tracks because they're not the top 40 hits she's known for. Those Giorgio Mordor-produced songs like Queen for a Day, Wasted, Working the Midnight Shift, Spring Affair etc are fantastic.

Forgot to include link. She released two double albums back-to-back which was very rare back then.

[quote]She released two double albums back-to-back which was very rare back then.

It was actually four in a row if you include 'Live & More' and the 'On the Radio' comp (which was sequenced to flow as a continuous mix). In just under two years.

One of her most underrated singles. IMHO.

I have WEPT several times listening to this song from the recent Dan Fogelberg tribute album.

Apparently, it was recorded months before she died. It is stunning beyond any words I could use to describe it.

Love “The Hostage”

“Lady of the Night” is so underrated and still sounds fresh

I've been enjoying Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger) and The Wanderer lately, As for the disco years, Could It Be Magic is one I never tire of.

She was one of the greatest ever. I never get tired of her music.

Summer Fever is great.

"I Feel Love" still sounds like something teleported to us from the future, after 40 years of being around... And all kinds of contemporary pop and dance music still rip it off even today. She was rather daring in her choice of material and that's why those albums have held up so well.

Once Upon a Time is an amazing album, regardless of disco, genre. Her vocals are beyond stunning and the production is incredible.

Donna, Giorgio, Pete, Harold Faltermeyer - thank God they all found each other. I never tire of Donna's '70s albums.

After the Disco era, although she kept having hits, she struggled to create an identity. Each album was so different from the last, there was no true Summer style.

I saw her in concert years ago. She was the real deal. What a voice!

[quote]She was rather daring in her choice of material and that's why those albums have held up so well.

She was, and the material was sublime. It's a shame she had to get all Jesusy and stopped making music like that. Donna's 80s material was really hit or miss.

I'll always regret not seeing her perform live.

She really was the greatest.

r23 she was terrific live. Donna was smart in that she knew that her hit days were over so she toured a lot. But she never really came across as a nostalgia act because her voice remained intact and very powerful.

She really took good care of her voice.

She was too big and influential to be a nostalgia act.

Four Seasons of Love came with a calendar featuring beautiful Scavullo shots of Donna representing each season.

Donna was incredibly talented. She was a terrific songwriter. She came up with the idea for She Works Hard for the Money, was the sole writer for Dim All the Lights (which she wanted to give to Rod Stewart), and co-wrote Starting Over Again with her husband Bruce Sudano, which became a number one country hit for Dolly Parton.

She was also an accomplished painter.

She died too young and is greatly missed.

She lived a fairly private life in the 90s and 00s. She could still outsing pretty much all of them (just listen to her Live & More Encore album from 1999) but she had no desire to chase trends. Basically, what Tina Turner did as well.

Sadly her videos were often terrible.

Also, in her latter years, so many of the songs, especially the lyrics, we just awful.

She just couldn't find music in the end to fit her immense talent.

What's a concept album exactly?

Like Celine, terrific singer with powerful voice. Too bad the tone of their voices grate on me.

This newer remix of Heaven Knows is heavenly.

Her version of State of Independence makes me cry.

Dinner with Gershwin was and will always be the shit

ALL SYSTEMS GO was totally underrated. Her duet on that album with Starship’s Mickey Thomas, the ballad “Only The Fool Survives”, is a fave of mine...

Another good one is “If it Hurts Just a Little”. The techno group Cassius later sampled it in their song Cassius 1999.

Still my favorite SAW production...

Versatile

"I Feel Love" sounds just as good today as it did in 1977.

Diets with Seal. Then an amazing live Last Dance.

In other words she was too lazy/cheap to buy 10 songs, so she just got four and extended them out to 15 minutes each and called it a day, while the suckers ate it up.

^^Turn in your gay card and get exiled from humanity.

[quote] A lot of younger gays haven' even heard the best Donna Summer tracks because they're not the top 40 hits she's known for. Those Giorgio Mordor-produced songs like Queen for a Day, Wasted, Working the Midnight Shift, Spring Affair etc are fantastic.

OMG! The album version of "Spring Affair" is aural euphoria. "Working The Midnight Shift" is great -- about 4 or 5 years ago it was playing in my car and one of my young tricks asked: "Is this Rihanna?"

So glad you queens still love Donna. After all that nasty business with the anti-gay rumors. The music speaks for itself.

She smoked like a chimney

You are wrong, many people did it. Her's became the most famous.

She was always ahead of her time. When she released The Wanderer she got some mixed reviews. But that album is brilliant and to this day is like sonic candy.

Years ago, around 1976 or 1977, she appeared on Merv Griffin and sang Could It Be Magic. I'm assuming it was live. It was so powerful, I still remember it to this day. I wish it was on youtube.

I was disappointed with All Systems Go. It was supposed to be her big come back. Instead it was overproduced with silly songs. Did any single from it go anywhere?

Still my favorite vocalist of all time. I went to Nashville two years ago and found her grave. I left her flowers and thanked her for the years of joy she gave me. And I cried my eyes out. Not ashamed.

R50

M

A

R

Y

!!!!!!!!!!!!

R50 and R51 I love you both.

Couldn’t agree more, r33 and r39.

And here’s a great episode from a great podcast (Slate’s Hit Parade) dedicated entirely to Donna Summer’s stellar chart record.

Dinner With Gershwin went top 10 on the R&B chart. I prefer Donna’s version over Brenda Russell’s, the latter who was the song’s composer.

Donna had a lot of great songs that weren't singles or were singles that should've been bigger hits:

Dinner with Gershwin

All Systems Go

Walk Away

Lucky

Sunset People

Supernatural Love

Back in Love Again

Carry On

Love's About To Change My Heart

Try Me I Know We Can Make It

Queen For A Day

Tokyo

Unconditional Love

When Love Cries

What happened to talent like this? Why can't we have modern singers who are this good? God, the current pop music scene is such garbage.

On the Once Upon A Time album is my all-time favorite - Happily Ever After - that song always lifts me up. I recently found an extended version and it has become my anthem. I Love You and Rumor Has It are my next favorites.

Her little know album Mistaken Identity (1991) - Work That Magic is about the only one I like.

The tripe that is considered music today is a crime!

“Carry On” was a fun song, very upbeat and dancey. Her kids are doing part of the vocals.

R30, it’s when the entire album is based on a single story or theme. There’s like a common thread that runs through the album, it could be anything from a day in the life to a journey to the progress of a love affair to current events.

I was stunned to hear "I Do Believe I Fell In Love" in Stranger Things 2. I thought only I loved that particular album cut.

"Work That Magic" is indeed a less known gem.

R18, Four Seasons of Love is fantastic.

While listening to that was the first time I ever fucked a dude. It was awesome.

I am glad not one person has brought up that David Geffen perpetuated Adam and Steve bullshit.

The greatest singer of the second half of the twentieth century. Once upon a time is brilliant. Love her stuff after the disco era too. Yes, where are singers like her today? Today's pop singers blow. Another excellent singer who never achieved big stardom wax the beautiful girl who sang Native New Yorker. My God, what a voice and how beautiful was she!

r64 the Native New Yorker singer died several years ago.

I'm inspired by this thread and listening to Once Upon a Time. It is interesting. I'm Gen X and knew the hits only.

I think Donna is underrated because she's linked with disco.

Getting back to the topic of the thread, I Love You is one of her greatest songs and one of her best vocal performances.

I agree with the poster upthread who thinks her videos are mostly terrible, and this owes partially to her stiffness and obvious discomfort performing in them. She was neither an actress nor a dancer.

She was a singer, through and through, and performing live, she's nearly unmatched.

"God didn't create no Adam and STEVE!"

This is another one of her under rated hits in her later years.

Donna did musical theatre in Germany for years before coming famous. And as for being stiff, when she performed Love to Love you baby in the 70's, she practically fucked the microphone stand.

By the time music videos came around, Donna had shunned most of her past "sexy" image. I think that discomfort had to do with not wanting to appear overly sexual. By the time she started to embrace her past in the late 90's, she had gained some weight.

I Love You is a great song. I always heard the sadness in her voice as she sang about the couple, hoping she would find that for herself one day. I know she was married at that time but I felt like she took on the role as the observer in the lyrics.

r70, she did musical theater, which is different from performing in videos, where you are playing to the camera. I said when she performed live, she was unmatched.

I hear hope and yearning but also triumph in her voice on that song, r71.

But it's side two of the first record that has me completely hypnotized: Now I Need You / Working the Midnight Shift / Queen for a Day.

Donna stopped singing Love to Love You in concert for years, because of her Jesus stuff, but later on she loosened up and resumed singing it. It was always a huge hit with the audience.

Her final studio album, Crayons, from 2008 is very good. She was planning a follow-up but unfortunately that was not to be.

I don't think Donna's videos are that bad. She was very photogenic and apparently she loved fashion and buying designer clothes.

She Works Hard for the Money was her biggest song of the '80s and the video helped it become a hit.

I thought she looked good and sexy in the Woman in Me video. I loved her look in this era.

"State of Independence" is really one of the best recordings in pop music history. It's brilliant. It was the template for We are the World and I think it's superior.

^^Extremely superior

San Diego: La Jolla Playhouse's Donna Summer musical bound for Broadway.

I saw "Summer: The Donna Summer Musical" last month in San Diego. It's headed to Broadway in the spring 2018. Good show. It could use some changes to make it more of a celebration. Donna has quite the back story from her days of growing up in Boston and singing in church as a young girl to heading off to Berlin to be in the production of Hair in the late '60s.

A musical with 3 different actresses as Donna? Hmmm...doesn't sound promising.

What songs did they use R76?

I saw it. It was good but needs work before bway They do amost aall her hits except This Time I know it's for real

"She Works Hard for the Money" from 1983.

This was the first video by a Black female artist to achieve "heavy rotation" on MTV. (a term used by MTV at the time to indicate a frequently-aired video).

Other than "Last Dance," my favorite song from the Donna Summer musical is "Heaven Knows." It came as a surprise in the show, and it was simply fun.

R77. There were three Donnas in the show because it was Donna as a young girl, Donna as the big star and Donna as the mature woman.

Donna Summer & Seal - Unbreak My Heart/ Crazy/ On The Radio

David Geffen killed her last one in the crib. 'I'm A Rainbow' has some seriously great shit on it, and he wanted her to be a 'Soul' star instead, and thus 'Rainbow' was sentenced to the vault ('Romeo' and 'Highway Runner' became soundtrack fodder, 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' and the title cut surfaced on the '93 Anthology, and a several other songs were farmed out to the likes of Amii Stewart and Frida, among others) and in its place, with the same catalog number even, is the Quincy record.

Aside from 'Love Is In Control', which is spectacular, and 'State of Independence', which seems to have been extermely popular everywhere but the States, I was not a fan of the Quincy record. 'Rainbow' was more interesting and had better songs when we finally got to hear it (albeit unfinished according to Harold Faltermeyer) in 1996.

As for the stage show, does David Geffen appear and then sabotage the whole second act?

No, David Geffen doesn't sabotage the second act.. There's quite a back story to Donna's life. She was growing tired of the nonstop performing, life on the road, etc. At some point, she really just wanted to be a wife and mother (she had three girls) and retreated from the constant performing. She still loved to sing, but she just didn't need it consuming her life. She was missing her family life. She was missing her spiritual life so she began singing gospel again just as she had as a young girl in Boston. She was very close to her mother and father; very close-knit, religious family. Donna was mortified by her first hit, Love to Love You Baby. It was recorded as a demo in Europe. It was never supposed to be a hit.

Musical tastes had changed by the mid-'80s so she started living her life the way she wanted. And according to the show, she never made fun of gays. She loved her gay fans. It was a stupid joke that went wrong, and she apologized profusely. But her life became quieter and more introspective. And she had a good long marriage that she and her husband wanted to enjoy.

The show included so many of her hits. It was a good show. It was fun, interesting and entertaining. But it needs a little something and a few changes to be a hit on Broadway. Donna Summer should be remembered. I hope it does well on Broadway. She deserves it

'Hate the Sin-Not the Sinner' was her most under-rated hit. It wasn't well received in the States, but it went gold in the Vatican.

I don't think I Remember Yesterday released in 1977 was a concept album, though the first side songs, including the title track and "Love's Unkind" and "Back in Love Again" had retro style. This was the album that also had "I Feel Love" as a future song.

Back cover of album with Donna's layered skirt.

Miss Ross was NOT thrilled with the rise of Donna. She was the first star to successfully challenge (and even supplant) Ross as THE black diva/gay icon of the '70s.

I first listened to "I Feel Love" in the mid-nineties and believed it was a song from the future.

"When There is Love" Donna Summer and Bruce Roberts.

Theme song from the movie Daylight

R64, I LOVE Native New Yorker by Odyssey. Such a snappy melody. Too bad it is almost completely forgotten

Joe Esposito from Brooklyn Dreams was such a pornstachioed hunk!

Native New Yorker is in Eyes of Laura Mars.

[quote] [R77]. There were three Donnas in the show because it was Donna as a young girl, Donna as the big star and Donna as the mature woman.

The whole of the Donna Summer's success occurs in the period between her musical theater roots and he last Top 10 single in the late 80s, that's less than 20 years. Why couldn't one actress manage that?

Donna’s white husband had surprisingly soulful vocals. I remember listening on the radio as a kid and thinking it was Teddy Pendergrast.

Joe Esposito had that wonderfully soulful baritone too. He’s behind some classic ‘80s movie songs (“Lady, Lady, Lady” from Flashdance and “You’re the Best” from Karate Kid), and his silky vocals can be heard in the background of Brenda Russell’s “Piano in the Dark”—a song Donna would have killed...

[quote]Once Upon A Time is the best.

Absolutely, even her album cover photographed by Francisco Scavullo was a trailblazer.

Working the midnight shift was my favorite song, because at that time, I was actually working the midnight shift. The lyrics couldn’t be so right at that time in my life.

“Everyone’s gone dancing, while I’m going home”

[quote] David Geffen killed her last one in the crib. 'I'm A Rainbow' has some seriously great shit on it, and he wanted her to be a 'Soul' star instead.

Oh really? Is that why her first single on Geffen was the very rock oriented The Wanderer, followed by the rockish Cold Love?

Love “Mystery of Love” it should have been a single.

Love this song, and love the video...especially when she twirls her dress. What a beautiful woman!

If only she didn't turn down Flashdance (What A Feeling)...

R92, I know right. And the lead singer is beyond gorgeous, the most beautiful, expressive eyes. What a beautiful song. No pop singer today can equal the genuine talent there. Love Donna as well. She could out sing any diva of this century or last.

Thelma from Good Times dancing to Native New Yorker

Donna apparently turned down a number of songs after becoming born again in the very early 80s. Flashdance was apparently one of them, as well as Call Me, which became a huge hit for Blondie.

[quote]The whole of the Donna Summer's success occurs in the period between her musical theater roots and he last Top 10 single in the late 80s, that's less than 20 years. Why couldn't one actress manage that?

R95. Regarding "Summer: The Donna Summer Musical" that just closed in San Diego and is headed to Broadway in the spring: The disco star Donna at 25-30 years old could NOT play Donna on stage as a 12-year old girl going to church with her mother and father where she was first asked to sing. They needed a younger girlish Donna on stage for those scenes--and that same girl played Donna Summer's daughter when Donna herself had kids. That shouldn't be too hard to figure out. And the married, mature mother of three Donna who wanted a quieter life in her latter years was played by a more mature motherly Donna, which made way for the third Donna on stage. This was a show--albeit a musical--about Donna Summer's entire life, from a young girl to the disco queen to the time she started getting sick as a 60-year old woman. The show wasn't only a musical--it had a book--it was telling a story. It was not simply a disco concert by Donna Summer, the singing star.

Anyone ever see the duet of Donna and Barry Manilow doing "Could It Be Magic"?

Yes, R108. It looks like LaManilow had it removed from YouTube. Sad, because it was great.

Donna was being inducted to The Hollywood Bowl of Fame along with Richard Carpenter, The Carpenters. Donna sang “Superstar” with Richard on the piano. It was sublime...

What a woman, what a voice, what a weave...

Best weave in the house!

I think Donna Summer’s version of “Could It Be Magic” is better than Manilow’s original.

I totally agree, r113

I think this s true of any song: Donna's version >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> other versions.

Another example (hearing this simply highlights how mediocre Sarah Brightman is)

I know she worked as a clown, maybe she was a mime type clown too- maybe in Germany? Her dancing style reminds me of that, the snaky arm moves.

R113 me too.

I agree w/ r72, Side 2 of Once Upon a Time is perhaps the best 15ish minutes in disco history, and one of the best album sides ever, right up there with side 1 of Rumours and whatever else makes the list of top album sides ever.

I always liked “Fairy Tale High” she sounds like a little girl fairy. Amazing how she can change her voice like that.

“Now I need you” is insane, it has a very strong gospel feel to it. The background vocals are perfection.

^ It's kind of a religious experience.

I wonder what it sounds like tripping on mushrooms.

Glad to see so much Donna love here. Did she ever do any musical theater besides HAIR in Germany?

Donna's Casablanca albums were reissued and remastered in 2012 shortly after her death. They are mini-LP style. The sound is simply STUNNING.

Some of them are out of print but seek them out if you can. They are worth it.

What r123 said. I have both the remastered CD versions of Once Upon A Time and Live And More, they sound phenomenal! They do look like mini albums.

Louise Lopez was the singer of "Native New Yorker". She died in 2015.

Thank you R125. Tragic this gorgeously talented woman didn't achieve higher heights, but at least she gave us this. And had some fame. The songs on Donna s double album are truly classic. I need you is heart wrenching. I love the whole set. I love the last song happily ever after. Midnight Shift is art. This music makes Hamilton look like the amateur shit it is.

Donna had such a powerful, strong, great voice.

Summer at Hollywood Bowl Superstar accompanied by Richard Carpenter.

Next night without weird Richard Carpenter.

Wow, she really killed it on Superstar! Great performance.

R100, Geffen blamed her commercial slide on her growing interest in more rock oriented material - 'The Wanderer' album was a commercial dodo despite the critical praise, and he apparently thought 'Rainbow' would only accelerate the decline. Supposedly especially insane over 'the fucking bagpipe song'. I dunno. Some GREAT songs on 'Rainbow', and vocally she is at the top of her game, so much so that the stories of her just phoning it in by this point show just how much talent she had to burn.

And she fucking would have ruled with her 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina'.

The story goes that the Donna/God have gays AIDS story was spread by Geffen. No one can quote the exact article or interview where she actually says this on the record.

Geffen, vindictive little bitch that he is, has always been rumored to be the culprit of the "Donna is anti-gay" stories. They didn't get along from practically the beginning of Donna signing to his label, and then she did "She Works Hard For the Money" to fulfill her contract for her old label. Geffen was furious that she didn't release that album on Geffen Records, because it was a huge hit and made a shit-ton of money. After that, the gloves were off.

The story goes that Donna allegedly said anti-gay stuff during a concert, but that has to be bullshit. If somebody who was a famous as Donna Summer was in the early 80s had said something so inflammatory in a public venue in front of hundreds of people, it would've been reported in every newspaper in the country, and there is absolutely nothing in the public record from that time.

[quote] Louise Lopez was the singer of "Native New Yorker". She died in 2015.

Lillian Lopez, darling.

R107, how many actresses play Gloria Estefan in "Get On Your Feet"? How many actresses play Carole King in "Beautiful"?

r134: Thank you for that. Wiki is annoyingly vague as to which Lopez lady was the lead singer, but Lillian indeed is the younger of the two, so it has too be her. I had no idea Odessy is still around. They have a nice Facebook page with lots of photos of the beautiful, warm-voiced Lillian.

Odyssey is originally a New York, United States-based singing group, best known for their 1977 hit "Native New Yorker," and a series of other mainly dance and soul hits in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Now based in the UK, the band is led and fronted by Steven Collazo and continues to perform and record. The group began as the Connecticut-born "Lopez Sisters" group, featuring Collazo's mother, Lillian Lopez (Lillian Lopez Collazo Jackson; November 16, 1935 – September 4, 2012),[4] Louise Lopez (February 22, 1933 – January 28, 2015),[5] and Carmen Lopez (born July 12, 1934), the latter having left the group before Odyssey, as the act would come to be known after her departure, was conceived.

Lillian Lopez (Lillian Lopez Collazo Jackson) - Died 9-4-2012 - Cancer ( Disco ) Born 11-16-1935 in Connecticut, U.S. - Singer - Was a member of Odyssey (They did, "Use It Up And Wear It Out" and "Native New Yorker").

A fave.

[quote]By the time music videos came around, Donna had shunned most of her past "sexy" image.

I thought she became a Jesus freak, which is why she refused to sing "Love to Love You"

The folk behind the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame could not get around to inducting Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco, until after she was dead.

David Geffen is the cuntiest cunt who ever cunted.

Methinks he'll be next.....

I don't know what to make of the David Geffen rumors.

I wouldn't put it past him, but it could just be fans making excuses for Donna.

I’m not surprised by the Geffen rumor, he’s obviously not a nice person.

I remember they used to broadcast live from Studio 54 on the radio, and they played a longer version of “Faster and Faster to nowhere”. It was brilliant, and I couldn’t find the 12” single anywhere.

This makes me think she *did* say something about gay men getting AIDS.

[quote]“I did not make that statement,” Summer says angrily. “Eight years ago, I made a reference to AIDS. What I supposedly said I did not say, and my reference to AIDS was really an innocent reference. “At the time, I thought AIDS was a herpes pimple, like you get on your mouth. I certainly didn’t have any idea what it really was and certainly if I had, in my heart I would not wish AIDS on anyone. I’m not that kind of person. It’s one of the most horrifying diseases around. I don’t think they’re doing enough for it.

She is trying to explain it away instead of simply saying, "I never said anything about AIDS."

Pink Floyd was doing this a whole decade earlier and well into the 1970s. Dark Side of the Moon is considered the first real concept album.

R145 Carole King released "Fantasy" around the same time as Dark Side of the Moon.

It isn't as good, but it is a concept album.

No idea whether she said it or not. It doesn't strike me as something she'd say deliberately, since my partner knows someone who knew Donna from the time when she lived in Nashville but what I can say is that I did not hear anything homophobic about her from that person.

As I recall, the remarks came after she became "born again" and were reported in the Village Voice.

If you want trippy listen to “Grand Illusion” on The Wanderer album. Perfection. There should be a remix of that someday.

Grateful Dead, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, the Sex Pistols .....

r150 the gist of it is "four concept albums in a row," as the title of the thread clearly states.

Jefferson Airplane, the Beach Boys, the Moody Blues, The Who

Wasnt she the first artist to have three consecutive double albums hit number #1?

Live and More Bad Girls ?

r153 yes, and On the Radio.

The success Donna enjoyed from 1975 to 1980 was incredible.

Show me the receipts Diane. Because no one can actually produce the actual quote. Think about that, she’d had that hung around her neck for 30 years yet no one could ever produce the quote. Gay men know how to research shit, believe me. If it really happened someone by now would have been like “The Village Voice, issue 532 dated Sept 1984, page 18!!!!! Go look it up for yourself with Google!!!!!” But because no one has, to date, I don’t want to believe the rumor and instead am more than happy to blame it on Geffen who sounds as awful as Weinstein.

David Geffen nixed 'Mind Over Matter for Debbie Harry because the 45 & album (The 'Summer School' soundtrack).would have been Chrysalis and the 12" would have been Geffen.

So SAW recorded E.G. Daly's vocals over Debbie's and voila, a cult classic was made.

David Geffen is a turd.

Geffen always seemed to have a hard time working with established artists who came to his label didn't he?

I didn't discover Summer's pre-1978 music until 1979 after I had purchased "Live and More" for the long version of "Mac Arthur Park".

After I bought her first 5 albums, I discovered so many other tracks I enjoyed.

I've been a HUGE DS fan ever since. At one time I had every single one of her albums, then CDs, save for all those greatest hits compilations. Although I did buy the 1993 anthology.

They really need to do a box set for her. Do they even do box sets anymore?

r158 surprisingly, in this day when CD sales are dying, box sets are still successful.

There was a Donna box set but it was for her '80s albums (save for She Works Hard for the Money).

it's a nice box set but it wasn't remastered (as it indicates but the sound is fine) and I'm sure they didn't use the original master tapes.

158, here.

I forgot about the recently-released "Ultimate Collection" (2016), available as a 1-,2-, or3-disc collection.

The three-CD collection is the most inclusive, but it's still not quite "box set" material. Basically, every track is the single/7" mix. It goes back to her Germany recordings and goes to her last known studio release "To Paris With Love" (2010), so it's definitely all-inclusive.

After growing up with all the full-length versions of her songs, I just can't listen to the edited versions.

Those perfect 20 year old blond rent boys (one at a time) who live out at Geffen's Malibu pad are well compensated. It is cool though all the money made from mostly homophobic crowd that bought all of the "Guns and Roses" and "Nirvana" records filling a gay mans pocket.

She got 30 miillion from the New York Times in the early 90's when they could not privide proof after printing her allegedly saying that God created AIDS to kill fags/gays. This kinda settlement today would sadly put the NYT out of business. When I heard Bad Girls as a pre-teen in the late 70 's I knew later in life thre would be a place of fun for me in the sun filled world of sex.

Around 1978 she did a show at the Pine Knob Theater in Michigan. Her limo was stuck 5 miles away from the outdoor theater. The 5 mile radius around the theater was completely choked with people/cars even without tickets wanting to be close to this peformance of hendorism - hendorism in the best sense. I could not belive my eyes as they flew her in on a helicopter and she climbed down a rope ladder to the stage. The crowd knew we were in the moment.

I think she knew she had to do the Jesus freak thing or the drugs would have killed her.

Wow, thinking back to ger song "There Will Always Be You" Her voice was and will always be the best.

R162 - Link, Please?

Her long version of MacArthur Park with the "there will be another song for me" always gets me. It's heartbreaking.

R163 No she DIDN'T! OMG!

I don't think Geffen went as far as to sue Donna, the way he sued Neil Young, for not giving him Neil Young music.

[quote] Geffen always seemed to have a hard time working with established artists who came to his label didn't he?

Yes!!!

R168

He sure did. Shoulda put out one of my smokes in his eye.

[quote] Because no one can actually produce the actual quote. Think about that, she’d had that hung around her neck for 30 years yet no one could ever produce the quote.

The quote is in the Advocate article. Even Donna says it was printed, just that it was allegedly wrong.

[quote]She got 30 miillion from the New York Times in the early 90's when they could not privide proof after printing her allegedly saying that God created AIDS to kill fags/gays. This kinda settlement today would sadly put the NYT out of business.

No, it wouldn't because it never happened. You are making shit up.

Considering how hard Summer pushed back on this rumor, I'm sure never said it.

R172 She pushed back on it because she didn't realize how much it would hurt her career.

R162, it was New York Magazine, not the New York Times and the settlement amount was never disclosed.

Here is the story about the lawsuit.

[QUOTE] The quote is in the Advocate article. Even Donna says it was printed, just that it was allegedly wrong.

Year, volume, issue number, and page please.

As with Donna, Yoko Ono had a falling out with Geffen too, after John died. Clearly Geffen wanted to sign Lennon and was stuck with Yoko as a package, but he did release her Seasons of Glass album. It would have been interesting to see what Lennon would have done in the future with Geffen, since one imagines he would have continued to insist that Yoko be on his albums.

@164, 171 & 174...... I read it in the New York Times sometime in the 90's. I could swear they wrote it as if the lawsuit had been directed at themselves Maybe I can drag it up again. My memory recalls a figure of 26 million given to Donna, from the NYT article. They kinda made her out to be a bitch. My searches do bring up a news conference in 91' where she anouced a 30 million suit against the New York Magazine, which probably was the jist of what I originally read. This is not important. Donna tried to introduce new talent as Prince, that is important. Sadly, many of the Princes and Donnas don' see the light of day with our greed controlled universitys and music industry.

Donna is just a bit past vocal prime here but you can't really tell much, her voice was just so good and she was always a real singer. I love this song and I wasn't even born when it was released. The abridged American Idol performance of MacArthur Park has a gorgeous vocal by Donna.

MacArthur Park. Yes yes yes. A masterpiece.

“The MacAthur Park Suite” has always been my favorite. The song made me realize what an amazing vocalist Donna Summer truly was.

The 'Live & More' album was my first exposure to Donna Summer as a little kid. I was completely entranced by the MacArthur Park Suite.

[quote]It would have been interesting to see what Lennon would have done in the future with Geffen, since one imagines he would have continued to insist that Yoko be on his albums.

I imagine he would have eventually had a falling out with Lennon too, it seemed to be his way (Donna, Neil, Joni, Dylan, etc)

It would have been interesting to see what Lennon would have done in the future with Geffen, since one imagines he would have continued to insist that Yoko be on his albums. I imagine he would have eventually had a falling out with Lennon too, it seemed to be his way (Donna, Neil, Joni, Dylan, etc)

Let’s add Elton John and Don Henley to the list of those who had a falling out with Cuntesse Geffen.

Never thought anyone could ever top or come close to Karen's vocals. I was wrong.

Pretty much everybody on Geffen's label in the 80s had some kind of issue with him, obviously it wasn't just Donna.

I know I'm alone here, but to a degree, I can kind of understand Geffen's dismay with some of his acts when they signed with him.

Let's face it, with the exception of Lennon, whose "Double Fantasy" took off due to his death, a lot of his artists weren't very successful in the early 1980s. I'm sure he thought he had picked a bunch of winners, and he did, but their early eighties material and success certainly didn't match their seventies success.

r186 that wasn't necessarily the fault of the artists themselves, there was such a huge shift in musical tastes in the very early 80s by the public, a lot (or even most) of the 70s artists floundered for a little while until they found their footing in the 80s. Heart is another good example of this. HUGE in the 70s, but their early 80s stuff didn't have the same success, and then they came roaring back in the mid-80s.

Not to mention that the Geffen/Summer relationship was further strained when Donna owed her former label Casablanca another album.

That album was She Works Hard for the Money which featured her biggest post-disco hit.

Then her song "Romeo" which was from the shelved I'm a Rainbow album was featured on the massively successful Flashdance soundtrack.

And the label Flashdance was released on... Casablanca.

[quote] I'm sure he thought he had picked a bunch of winners, and he did, but their early eighties material and success certainly didn't match their seventies success.

Geffen Records didn't know what to do with the artists. It was the label's failure, not the artist's. Donna in particular was still a viable artist but she needed more support and better guidance.

R55 tagged this one. "Tokyo" is one of my favorite Donna Summer tracks. It reminds me of my teen years in the 80s.

Upon hearing "Romeo" on her I'm a Rainbow album Geffen reportedly responded with "What is this ooh chucka shit?!"

Yeah, I bought "I'm a Rainbow" when it came out on CD in 1996 and I wasn't very impressed.

Besides, I already had "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and the title track courtesy of the 1993 anthology collection.

"I'm A Rainbow" is unfinished. It is basically demo recordings. It's important to note that it was cancelled before it was finished, it was never submitted to Geffen as a finished product. If Moroder could score No. 1 hits for Irene Cara, Berlin and Blondie in the 80s he could have put Donna back at No. 1. "Melanie", "True Love Survives", "Back Where You Belong" and "Sweet Emotion" could have been hits if finished. The songs on "Rainbow" are far superior to the songs on "The Wanderer."

I listened to I'm a Rainbow and liked it a lot, but it sounded very disco and Seventies. It was 1982 and he probably wanted her to pivot away from disco, and it's hard to blame him. I prefer Rainbow to the Quincy record that got released. Those songs were meh.

I did t care for the “I’m a Rainbow” album, it did have an unfinished feel to it. But, I do love that song, and Don’t Cry for me Argentina.

Giorgio Moroder wanted to continue working with Donna in the early 80s, but when she went back to Jesus she didn't want to sing the sexy stuff anymore, much to Giorgio's frustration. It's too bad that they didn't continue their partnership.

[quote]Year, volume, issue number, and page please.

I'm not your research assistant, fangirl.

Donna doesn't dispute that the article appeared, just its accuracy.

To R196 -

Even though it didn't have any success in the US, in 1996 she collaborated with Moroder again for "Carry On".

It was released on some various artist collection by him and her 1993 "Anthology" collection.

Oops. "Carry On" was recorded in '92.

She won the first Dance Grammy for Carry On, which is a personal fave, in 1997

Add Aerosmith and Irene Cara to the list.

"Carry On" sounds more like SAW than traditional Giorgio Moroder. I don't understand Geffen on the SAW album. He asked them to work with Donna and then he refused to release the album? An album which for me is a comeback for Donna in terms of dance music. He must have really wanted to dump her from his label.

I agree the I'm a Rainbow songs sound mostly unfinished.

However Romeo could not be improved (unless extended). It's punchy, fun and catchy. I wish it had been released as a single.

The Quincy Jones album has some great tracks too.

^^^ You're referring to 1982's "Donna Summer" album. I like a lot of those tracks, too. When it was re-released in 2014, they included the B-side of LIIC, "Sometimes Like Butterflies".

I always kind of felt sorry for her during that one.

She was pregnant during the recording. She has claimed that she felt she was "working on a Quincy Jones record". I guess he likes to have a lot of control when he's the producer. It just seems like, overall, it wasn't a very happy experience.

It seems that Geffen was probably insistent on something with commercial appeal after he refused "Rainbow".